The beauty of D&D is its capacity for story. Sometimes, those stories turn out to be incredibly wholesome.
Emily Smith is a freelance comic artist from Perth who, as it so happens, also runs a rural D&D club. It’s a club for younger kids, usually between 12 to 18, and they meet about three times a week.
Sometimes the kids interactions are what you’d expect from kids in D&D. (Extra points for the Avatar reference.)
Today at #DnD club:
Me: No, you cannot teabag the minotaur.— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 2, 2018
Today at #DnD club, one of my most lawful-good players managed to accidentally start a forest fire that may possibly wipe the adventure location the entire club’s spent most of a calendar year exploring off the map.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) July 3, 2018
DnD club child: “Does poop count as an element?”
Second #DnD club child: (hushed voice) “Everything changed when the Poop Nation attacked.”— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) June 20, 2018
#DnD club child: I put on my best smile and bat my eyelashes at the Kenku brigand. I’m rolling to flirt.
Me: Given that you just stabbed him in the gut, I don’t think he’s gonna be receptive.
DnD club child: (patiently) I’ve tried this on every enemy, I’m not changing my schtick.— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) June 14, 2018
So most of the time, Smith’s stories are just about dumb kid stuff. But the imagination of a child is a powerful thing, powerful enough to take down a Nothic.
Today at #DnD club, three 13-yr-olds defeated the monster by asking him how he was feeling, and then sitting him down to a group therapy session. They were on about 3hp each, out of spell slots and healing potions, and they beat the monster with the Power of Empathy.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
For the record, this is what a Nothic looks like:
Apart from having two claw attacks, the Nothic can also target any creature within 30ft (that it can see) and do 3d6 necrotic damage, unless they make a constitution saving throw. And just for shits and giggles, it can also target any visible target within 30ft and force a deception check against its insight check, allowing the Nothic to learn “one fact or secret”.
It’s a bastard of a creature, basically.
Let me set the scene here – two girls playing tiefling siblings, a rogue and a ranger, and a boy playing a hulking paladin in skull-themed armour. They are climbing a wizard’s tower in search of their missing elven benefactor. They have had an extremely long day.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
At this point I’ve tried dropping hints that they may want to rest up and regain some hp, because the heartiest of them is on 5hp and they’re fresh out of spell slots, class abilities and potions. I like these kids, and I don’t actually want to kill their characters.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
The Nothic is a particularly sinister #DnD monster, who possesses partial telepathy and can rot you with a gaze. As the Nothic, I taunted their characters with their past failures and their darkest secrets. I was going for creep factor. The kids LOVED him.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
Low on health, being battered mentally and roleplayed by Smith like Pennywise from IT, the party was on its last legs. Not willing to rest up prior – because hey, they’re kids – Emily mentally prepared for the arduous tale of a party wipe.
But never underestimate the power of a child’s imagination.
They, in character, start firing questions at the Nothic. How long has he been there? Does his mistress check on him? Does he ever go outside? Isn’t he lonely? Now, this beastie is telepathic and thus can sense their sincerity, and it knocked the legs out from under him.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
– and desperate to impress her, confused by her increasingly erratic behaviour and distant attitude. So he plunges himself into research, trying to find the trick, the lore, the spell that will catch her attention. He grows obsessed and it consumes him.
— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
Tiefling rogue: “We gotta show vulnerability to show him it’s ok. I’ll go first. I’m Motcha, and all of my family except for my sister are dead.”
Tiefling ranger: “I’m Rynn, and Gnolls destroyed my entire village.”
Aasimar Paladin: “Eli Ironsides. I like pink. And baking.”— Emily Smith (@manic_pixie) August 1, 2018
For all the crappy D&D experiences out there – people spending the whole time on their phones, people not bothering to roleplay or just living out their personal power fantasies at the expense of the group – it always has the capacity for some amazing encounters.
Well played, kids.
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